A review by sde
Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang
2.0
I'm not sure what audience this book was aimed at. It wasn't really an academic work - the tone was conversational and assumed a fair bit of knowledge of the main players in hip-hop in the past. It would not really appeal to younger fans of hip-hop, though, because although it did discuss a lot of the founders of the movement and how they affected social culture, it did so in a superficial way without, again, really explaining to an outside/younger audience why these players were important. I would have liked more information on the context of any of the players - for instance, the South Bronx gang leaders.
My second gripe is purely personal - the font is the sort of font that the "feel good" books of the early 70's were written in. Perhaps that was purposeful - to be evocative of the time that a lot of the action was taking place - but it made me take the book less seriously.
OK, I know I'm in a minority in my views on this book. Perhaps that was part of the problem - I was expecting too much after reading the reviews.
My second gripe is purely personal - the font is the sort of font that the "feel good" books of the early 70's were written in. Perhaps that was purposeful - to be evocative of the time that a lot of the action was taking place - but it made me take the book less seriously.
OK, I know I'm in a minority in my views on this book. Perhaps that was part of the problem - I was expecting too much after reading the reviews.